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The $316-million purchase of Sun Media's English-language papers, including the Calgary Sun, will create the country's largest digital and news organization, Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey says.

Godfrey, the former president and CEO of Sun Media, pointed out that many senior Postmedia executives have links back to the chain.

"In some ways, today is a family reunion," Godfrey said Monday.

Rod Phillips, chairman of the Postmedia board of directors, said the agreement was reached late Sunday and must still get the green light from regulators, including the Competition Bureau.

"But today is a very exciting day -- today's a great day for made-in-Canada journalism," Phillips said. "And in our view it's the best way forward for an industry that for the past decade has faced significant competitive challenges from digital giants like Google and Facebook."

Postmedia - which owns the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal and the National Post among other dailies - has no plans to close down newspapers, even in the markets where it already has a competing product, Godfrey said.

While there are no job guarantees, there are no immediate plans to conduct layoffs and, in some cases, Postmedia has identified places where the staff may need to be beefed up, he said.

"We intend to keep Sun Media's large daily newspapers in those markets where we overlap. Their readers and their advertisers in many cases are different from those of Postmedia," he said.

The sale was greeted with excitement by Sun Media's senior managers.

"This is a very positive move for our industry," said John Caputo, Western VP of Sales for Sun Media.

"These two iconic brands will be able to bring a much stronger offering to our readers and advertisers on a multitude of multimedia platforms. No one produces local content like our industry and this deal will allow us to play an even bigger part in serving our local communities.

Winnipeg Sun publisher Daria Zmiyiwsky​ agrees.

“This is a fantastic announcement for Sun Media, Postmedia and the newspaper industry as a whole. Strength in numbers of papers within these two organizations will allow for greater innovation, delivery of our content to our readers and expanded opportunities for our advertisers. Paul Godfrey has experienced chapters of his media career with Sun Media, so he knows the work ethic and passion of Sun Media employees.”

Glenn Garnett, vice-president of editorial for Sun Media Corporation, said the involvement of so many former Sun leaders, now senior Postmedia executives, will ease the transition.

"I think this is the best outcome we could have hoped for," Garnett said. "In this media landscape, critical mass matters and this deal is as big as it gets. In Paul, Wayne (Parrish) and Lou (Clancy), Postmedia has senior executives who understand the Sun brand and, more importantly, are forward thinking and innovative in developing digital. My managers are pumped and looking forward to it."

Postmedia has acquired 175 English-language publications and their associated digital properties, including Canoe, The Toronto Sun, The Ottawa Sun, The Winnipeg Sun, The Edmonton Sun, The Calgary Sun, the London Free Press and 24 Hours in Toronto and Vancouver.

Sun News Network was never part of the acquisition discussions and remains with Quebecor Media, Godfrey said.

Sun Media will continue to operate independently with its own newsrooms and opinions, he said.

Although advertising revenue has been on the decline, newspapers remain a premier source of reliable journalism and this deal gives both Postmedia and Sun Media "more runway" as the industry evolves, he said.

Many people are still happiest receiving their information on printed paper but increasingly, young people want their news in a digital format on the device of their choice, he said.

"If you don't march towards that future, you're going to disappear," Godfrey said.​​